The Superstitious Bride: A Book of Wedding Lore

by Rosalind Franklin

Superstitions from all over the world covering everything from getting engaged to arranging the honeymoon suite. There's advice on picking your bridesmaid (never choose a redhead as she will steal your Groom) the 'language of flowers' in the bridal bouquet (orange blossoms represent eternal love), numerology regarding your new married name, setting the wedding date (Saturday is bad as it is ruled by Saturn, an unlucky planet associated with negative energies like jealousy), choosing the wedding outfit (never buy a wedding dress that was first set aside for a wedding that never actually happened as it is jinxed) the ceremony, (rose petals are thrown before the Bride as she walks down the aisle to ward off the evil spirits that live beneath the ground from coming up at her), the reception (bridesmaids should not wash the dishes or they will fall out with the married couple) plus much more Other examples from the book; The person who gives the third gift to be opened at a Bridal Shower will have a baby within a year. The Bride will have fair weather if she feeds the cat well just before leaving for church. If separate wedding photos are taken of the Bride and Groom, their marriage will fall apart. When dancing at the reception, the Bride must not take both her feet off the floor at the same time as the fairies will then gain the upper hand and will kidnap her. Giving a chamber-pot as a wedding gift brings good luck to the newlyweds. On coming home, the Bride should hide her girdle in the threshold of the house, so that the Groom will step over it and bring eternal luck and desire to the marriage.

108 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2005

About the author

Rosalind Franklin was a British biophysicist and X-ray crystallographer who made critical contributions to the understanding of the fine molecular structures of DNA, RNA, viruses, coal, and graphite. The DNA work achieved the most fame because DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) plays essential roles in cell metabolism and genetics, and the discovery of its structure helped scientists understand how genetic information is passed from parents to children.

Franklin is best known for her work on the X-ray diffraction images of DNA which led to discovery of DNA double helix. Her data, according to Francis Crick, were "the data we actually used" to formulate Crick and Watson's 1953 hypothesis regarding the structure of DNA.[4] Franklin's images of X-ray diffraction confirming the helical structure of DNA were shown to Watson without her approval or knowledge. Though this image and her accurate interpretation of the data provided valuable insight into the DNA structure, Franklin's scientific contributions to the discovery of the double helix are often overlooked. Unpublished drafts of her papers (written just as she was arranging to leave King's College London) show that she had independently determined the overall B-form of the DNA helix and the location of the phosphate groups on the outside of the structure. However, her work was published third, in the series of three DNA Nature articles, led by the paper of Watson and Crick which only hinted at her contribution to their hypothesis.

After finishing her portion of the work on DNA, Franklin led pioneering work on the tobacco mosaic virus and the polio virus. She died in 1958 at the age of 37 of ovarian cancer.

via Wikipedia.